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No 'Ramblin' Wreck,' this senior bound for Georgia Tech
Maya Carrasquillo has a
tough time finding words to describe herself.
“My friends would say
I’m strong and driven,” said the 17-year-old Albany High School senior.
Her activities attest
to those words.
She’s an honor student
in Albany High’s prestigious and rigorous International Baccalaureate
program. She played volleyball, outdoor track and indoor track in high
school, and volunteers for an array of community groups.
She’s president of the
Albany YMCA National Society of Black Engineers and vice president of
the Albany PAL Youth Leadership Council.
And this spring she was
part of a panel of six high-school students – also including 2009 Albany
High grad Ocasio Willson – who shared their thoughts on education with
rapper and actress Queen Latifah and an audience of 3,000 educators in
New York City.
The words “poised” and
“assured” come to mind after talking to Carrasquillo even briefly. Those
traits didn’t come naturally, she said.
“I wasn’t always this
confident,” she said. “Different experiences helped me get to this
point. In school, it was learning to deal with peer pressure, drama with
friends. You learn a lot about yourself.”
She also considers her
mother, Theresa Carrasquillo, and grandmother, Elizabeth Harley, as
pivotal people who shaped her character.
“My mom and my
grandmother are very strong women and they’ve been through a lot in
their lives,” she said. “Their passion and drive has been instilled in
me. They never let me settle for less than what they knew I could do.”
Carrasquillo excelled from Albany School of Humanities (ASH)
through William S. Hackett Middle School and on to – and through –
Albany High.
“I love it here. I
couldn’t see myself going anywhere else,” she said. You get a chance to
deal with different ethnicities and social backgrounds and it’s a very
positive experience.”
Carrasquillo has her
sights on becoming an environmental engineer with a minor in
international relations. She will attend Georgia Institute of Technology
(her first choice college, better known as Georgia Tech) in the fall,
and would like to work on irrigation and waterway systems in third-world
countries.
She feels well-prepared
for college and credits her “amazing” experience at Albany High.
“I’ve had so many
incredible opportunities that I wouldn’t have elsewhere,” she said. "I’m
so grateful for that.”
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